Harry Hostetter's Blog

With the Royals in an odd scheduling twist of having a holiday off today, I was watching the Cubs on ESPN tonight. The Cubs in having their shortstop Nomar Garciaparra injured have Neifi Perez starting. As a Royals fan I had several times had called Neifi, "Popup Perez". It seemed that when a hit was needed and he was up, he would hit a popup. The Perez that is playing this year with the Cubs is a different Perez. He is hitting over .300 going into the game tonight, he never even sniffed .250 in his time with the Royals. After the 2002 season the Royals did not resign him, he latched on with the Gaints. After a 1 1/2 years with the Gaints they cut him during the season. The Cubs sign him as a backup to Nomar and he played very well down the stretch for the Cubs. This year he is playing very well for Dusty Baker and the Cubs, something he did very little for Tony Pena and the Royals.

Tonight was another Lima Time loss. I was at my nephew's baseball game tonight, a great come from behind win, and my brother asked my how many runs in the first inning for Lima. I said 2 with 5 in the 3rd. Well he retired the side in the first, but gave up 2 in the second, 3 in the third, 2 in the fourth and 1 in the fifth. His ERA is now 8.13, ouch!

On the plus side Steve Stemle, got him from the Cardinals system in the off-season, pitched 3 scoreless innings. Stemle was called up from the O Royals today to replace Jamie Cerda. Stemle has pitched well in Omaha this year, he had a 0.41 ERA before his call up. I read that Scheaf said that the lefty lefty matchup was overrated so in those situations he will righty lefty.

Mike Woods had an inning of scoreless work tonight also. I would like to see Wood replace Lima in the rotation. Lima either needs to go to the bullpen or be released. There is no reason for him to start anymore games for the Royals this year.

I truly believe that Mark Teahen will be a very good 3rd baseman. His defense has been solid, not spectacular but solid. He has shown that he can cover the bunts and slow grounders with ease. He has a strong arm and can make the barehand pick-up as well as some of the greats, like Brooks Robinson. This may seem like heady company for a rookie but listening to the game last night, Ryan Lefebvre and Denny Matthews made this comparison. Once he gets a few more games under his belt I'm sure that the rest of his defense will be in line with these comparisons.

The one aspect of his game that will take time to develop will be his offense. He is hitting .246, which is decent for his rookie year. I have a feeling that he will struggle later this year before he gets things turned around. The Royals wanted to start him in AAA this year but injuries forced them to start him at 3rd on opening day. I look forward to many great years from this young man.

Is it time for John Buck to go back to the minors and work on his hitting? Here are some stats on the "Catcher of the Future", hitless in 58% of the games he has played. Went 12 games before getting an RBI and only has 11 for the 31 games he has played, although he has RBI's in his last 5 games. He has 4 multi-hit games but 7 games with 2 or more strikeouts. The Royals the last few years have talked about plate discipline yet here is Buck with 30 K's and only 8 walks! Harvey and Pickering had to battle in spring training to make the club, with Pickles getting the nod because he was working the counts better then Harvey.

If Buck is sent down who would replace him? I know someone that would hate to see Paul Phillips brought up so maybe we should call on Matt Tupman of Wichita. Tupman has 12 strikeouts and 16 walks in 29 games. The Royals already brought up at least 2 players from Wichita what would another hurt? John Buck needs to get his bat going or go, that is all there is to it!

Last night Jose Lima blew another lead of 5 runs or more in his starts. He was signed in the off season to give the pitching staff a starter that could eat up the innings. The thinking was that with a staff of young starters and some young relief pitchers there was a need for a veteran pitcher that could go out every 5 days and pitch late into the game. In his 9 starts this year he is averaging just over 5 innings a game, only twice has he pitched past the 6th. His ERA this season is 7.77 after starting the season giving up 5 runs in 3 innings, a 15.00 ERA. In his nine starts he has given up 5 runs or more 6 times! Maybe it is time to give Chris George or Ryan Jensen of Omaha or Kyle Middleton of Wichita the ball and give Lima Time a timeout.

An article in theKansas City Star today talks about a grassroots effort to keep the Wizards in town. The picture that accompanied the article had fans with a poster saying "Keep the Wizards, Sell the Royals." The Wizards are in the same boat the Royals were in a few years back, only they aren't tied to the stadiums like the Royals were. Now I'm not a soccer fan by any means, but the Wizards have had some of the best players in the game. This still can't draw in mainstream Kansas City crowds. I have been to only one soccer game, quite a story behind that one game. I think that it is good that the Wizards have a solid base of fans, that might sway a new owner to keep the team in town.

A lot has happened this week. The first item to go over is the tragic bus accident that happened on Monday the 9th. I was playing in a golf event on Monday and had no ideal of what had happen in town around 8:30 am. After the golf outing, which I will cover later, I decided to go to the driving range, something I should've done sooner, to make sure I was as bad as what I had played. On the way home I went by the Liberty School District office where they were having a press conference. When I got home and checked my email there was a message of the accident, but didn't give me any indication that it had killed two motorists and sent 23 children to the hospital. The bus involved is the bus that Elizabeth rides from the high school to the junior high to get her bus home. I have sat at the intersection many a times waiting for the lights to change, never could one imagine anything like this ever happening. As of Friday the 13th three students were still in the hospital as well as the bus driver. It will take several months to find out what went wrong that day, I hope that everyone involved will be stronger from what has happened. I know that at least three families lives have changed for ever.

On Monday after the golf outing I was presented the 2004 Volunteer of the Year award for my efforts last year at the Champions Tour event here in Kansas City. I was sitting at the same table as George Brett. I didn't get to the table in time to talk to George other the to introduce myself. Except for having a sad golf game I did enjoy myself and felt good about getting the award. The tournament this year is June 6th to the 12th. I'm ready, although I don't look forward to the 40 to 45 minute drive each morning.

On Tuesday after another sad loss, Tony Pena (I almost put Muser) resigned as manager of the Kansas City Royals. I truly think that it was a matter of time before the Royals would have given up on him and fired him. He is also involved in what appears to be a nasty divorce here in Kansas City. I will let the hiring of a new manger run it's course, I'm not sure who I would like to see replace Tony but I don't want Bob Schaefer.

Wednesday the Royals had a new manager with the same results, another loss. The offense did seem to click better, more relaxed. The thing that I would've wanted to see is Angel Berroa benched at least one game, he has made several boneheaded plays this year and seems to have a get out of jail card for some reason.

Thursday started a three day span in which I went to a Royals game. The weather wasn't the best, we had upper level tickets and just as we got settled in we were told to go down to the Plaza level. The game started an hour and thirty six minutes late. We only stayed for two innings and saw the Royals get some nice hitting from Emil Brown and John Buck. John Buck needs to get his bat going or he should be sent to Omaha, no reason to be hitting under 200 this late in May. The Royals did hold on for the win in a rain shortened game.

Friday was another loss as Burgos gave up a shot to the D-Rays number 9 hitter. Burgos started out this year proving he was ready. His last two outings have been anything near where he was earlier. It might be time to have him go back to the minors and work on his control.

Saturday was the final game of the week for me. We got our powder blue trucker style hats and watched a good game between two bad teams. In the end Emil Brown had another clutch hit to drive in the winning run. Andrew Sisco pitched the ninth but go into some trouble, another pitcher that should be protected a little more, in comes Mike Wood for the final out. It was Woods first save in his major league career. He did get some help in the outfield from Terrance Long who made a hell of a catch. The Royals pitchers right now are going through another period of trying to figure out what their roles will be. Wood was slated as a long reliever/spot starter and now appears to be in the running for closer. Sisco was for mop up and became the number one setup man, now he is in the running for closer with some setup. If there isn't any consistence how can the team get into any grove? That appears to have been the problem with the offense. Other then Sweeney and Berroa, who should be benched, no other player could get into any set routine. Stairs, Marrero, Brown, Long, Graffanino, Buck and any other player that was to get regular playing time couldn't figure out when they might start. Tony Pena was trying to get his backups regular playing time but was killing his regular starters by not letting them get into a regular routine. Emil Brown has started the last 8 games and has raised his average from .190 to .224 in that time. He is driving the ball and getting timely hits. He is playing like he did in spring training. It is time to let them play and hopefully the wins will follow.

They did get their tenth win last night, the last team to get to double digit wins. Now they need to string a few wins together and get away from the talk of the worst record in baseball history.

Major league debut of Leo Nunez tonight in the 8th inning. He strikes out his first two batters and gets his third batter on a foul popup. A very impressive first outing for the 21 year old pitcher the Royals obtained from the Pirates this off season for the 43 year old Benito Santiago, who was released on Sunday. The interesting thing about Nunez, who was recalled from the Wichita AA club, is where he started this year, High Desert A club. Now it isn't that uncommon to make moves like this, but his stats in High Desert are odd for moving to Wichita. From the Royals web site "Nunez opened the year with Class-A High Desert, recording an 8.31 ERA in eight games." You promote a pitcher with an 8.31 to AA? He did pitch well in Wichita, 3 games 5 innings 1.80 ERA, but is he ahead of Steve Stemle, 9 games 12 innings 0.00 ERA? Pena says, "He's a young kid that can throw strikes." When has Tony had time to check him out? I think that this another questionable move for the Royals this year.

May 9, 2005 8 wins and 24 losses. Let's try to pick when they will hit double digit wins. I will guess May 14th.

Kyle Snyder pitched very good tonight, as well as his previous outings. I saw a graphic that he has not allowed an inherited runner to score. They said that Pena will start backing off Sisco in the pressure situations, I think that he was starting to overuse him anyway.

I saw Harvey in his last at bat do the glove tightening that Sweeney does. I will keep an eye on this, not a good habit. They want Harvey to do a better job with plate discipline, which he did tonight as he watched strike three for the last out of another loss, 3-1.

With a youth movement shouldn't you start the young players? On Thursday the Royals played the White Sox in Chicago that had three players older then their captain Mike Sweeney. Matt Stairs, 37, is the starting rightfielder, Albert Castillo, 35, is the starting catcher and Tony Graffanino, 33, is the starting second baseman. I can handle the rest of the lineup but these guys have to go. I have heard that in looking for a power hitting corner outfielder the Royals didn't want a player on the down hill side of his career, , , , , then why was Stairs (from now on he will be Stoutboy) last year? Why did they trade for Eli Marrero, Terrence Long could almost fit into down hill side of his career. Well enough questions for now, I need to ponder some for answers to these questions.

Going to go watch them boys in blue now.

I have decided to start my own blog. With this I will post my thoughts on how to improve the Royals. I will also post the goings on in my and my families lives.

As I'm starting this the Royals have lost another game, 4-2. I didn't see much of this game but from what I have seen it looks like they did play most of the younger players. More on the Royals to come.

On Monday the 9th I will be playing golf at Nicklaus Golf Club at LionsGate for the Bayer Advantage Classic Media Day. I got invited to attend based on my being voted Volunteer of the Year for last years tournament. I received an email reminder today with the names of Jack Harry, Kevin Kietzman and others at WHB810, Joe Posnanski, Dave Stewart and a long list of other big names in Kansas City business.